


All I want for Christmas...

by pinkamour1588



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Morning, Christmas Presents, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Hugs, Insecurity, Kissing, M/M, Nervousness, Parenthood, Wishes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 03:22:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13091382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkamour1588/pseuds/pinkamour1588
Summary: “You know what I really want for Christmas, Bones?”





	All I want for Christmas...

Leonard stood just outside of Joanna’s doorway so he was out of sight from her and Jim but still able to see the two. Jim was sitting on her bed while she read aloud to him. Every now and then he coached her through sounding out a word. She was snuggled up against him, beginning to struggle with more words the sleepier she got.

“How about we stop right here, Jojo? You can read me the rest of the chapter in the morning,” Jim said gently.

“But it’s Christmas tomorrow, Mr. Jim.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t read to me.” He took the PADD from her hands and set it aside.

“I suppose,” she sighed dramatically as he got up.

He laughed and once she was settled under the covers, he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Goodnight, Jojo.”

“Night, Mr. Jim.”

Jim made sure the nightlight was on before turning the lights off and walking out of the room. “Were you watching us again?” he asked when he saw Leonard standing there.

“Perhaps. But only because I love seeing how good you are with her,” Leonard smiled, wrapping his arms around Jim and Jim wrapped his around him in return.

“How many more meetings with lawyers do we have?” Jim rested his chin on Leonard’s shoulder.

“Jocelyn is still digging her heels in, but hopefully not too many more. Next one is January 5th.”

“Why is she being so insistent about maintaining her parental rights? She hasn’t seen Jo in five years. She hasn’t even cared to act upon any of those rights.”

Leonard nodded and kissed Jim’s temple. “I don’t know,” he whispered rubbing his husband’s back lightly.

“Let’s go to bed and watch a movie.” Jim stepped back from Leonard and lead the way to the bedroom.

Once the two of them were settled in bed with a movie playing, Jim moved closer to Leonard, settling in the doctor’s arms. “You know what I really want for Christmas, Bones?” He took Leonard’s left hand and rubbed his thumb over the platinum wedding band.

“Hm?” He looked down at Jim.

Jim turned his head to look up at him. “I want to be Joanna’s other dad. Officially. Legally. Not just her dad because I married her daddy. I want to have parental rights to her.”

“I know, sugar. I want that too,” Leonard murmured.

“Do you think it will?”

“I don’t plan on giving up anytime soon.”

Jim nodded, settling his head back on Leonard’s shoulder and going back to watching the movie.

***

Leonard was woken up the next morning by the weight of a seven-year-old climbing onto the bed.

“Daddy, wake up,” she said shaking his arm.

He peeked one eye open. “What time is it?”

Joanna looked at the clock thoughtfully for a moment then answered, “Seven o’clock.”

“Thirty more minutes.”

She frowned and laid down next to him, snuggling up close. Every few minutes she would squirm impatiently.

“Alright, Jo, what time is it?” Leonard asked after a while, resigning himself to not being able to fall back asleep.

She sat up and looked back at the clock before saying, “Seven-thirty-two.”

“Well, I suppose we should wake Jim up. How do you think we should do it?”

“Jumping on the bed.”

Jim shifted in his sleep and Leonard nodded to her.

“Three. Two. One,” Leonard whispered before Joanna started jumping, careful not to land on either of them.

Jim suddenly rolled over and grabbed her before she could avoid it. “I seem to have caught a Jojo,” he smiled kissing her cheek as she giggled.

“Well, you know what we do with Jojos,” Leonard grinned before starting to tickle her.

Joanna squealed and laughed as she tried to wiggle free from Jim’s hold. After several minutes, she was hiccupping from laughing so hard.

“So, what do I owe the pleasure of being woken up like this?” Jim asked releasing her from his hold.

“It’s Christmas, Mr. Jim, Daddy! Presents! Santa came last night!”

“It’s Christmas already?” Leonard looked at Jim then continued, “Were we supposed to get Jo presents? I completely forget.”

“Daaaddddy!” she whined sticking out her bottom lip.

“Joooooo!” Leonard teased.

“Jim!” Jim interjected.

Joanna and Leonard looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

“I thought we were saying names,” Jim laughed.

Joanna rolled her eyes dramatically before looking between both of them. “Can we please open presents now?”

“I supposed.” Jim got up, and after pulling on a pair of pajama pants, scooped her up and carried her to the living room slung over his shoulder.

He dropped her on the couch before heading to the kitchen were Leonard was starting to make coffee. He wrapped his arms around his husband and kissed his cheek. “Merry Christmas, Bones.”

“Merry Christmas, Jim. Would you mind supervising the child while I make coffee?”

“Make me some?”

“Of course.”

Jim smiled, giving Leonard a quick squeeze and a peck on the lips before going back to the living room where Joanna was fidgeting excitedly on the couch. “So, what’re you hoping Santa brought you?” he asked plopping down next to her.

“Well, I wanted a new bike, but Daddy said since I haven’t outgrown the one I have yet, I can’t have a new one until I do. There was that new doll…” She continued rambling on until Leonard came in with two mugs of coffee and a small mug of hot chocolate for Joanna.

~

An hour later, Joanna was sitting amongst the mess of wrapping paper and gifts brushing the hair on her new doll. Jim smiled as he sat back on the couch with a fresh cup of coffee and a piece of coffee cake.

“So, Jojo, did you get everything you wanted?” Jim asked.

Joanna hesitated then got up and walked over to him. “There was, um, one other thing.” She glanced over at Leonard and he gave her a small nod.

“And what would that be, Princess?”

“Can I…um…” She looked down at her feet. “Can I call you Papa? Cause you’re married to Daddy now.”

Jim stared at her in shock for a minute, trying not to cry, before nodding. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

Her face brightened. “Really?!”

He put his mug on the coffee table and pulled her into a tight hug. “Yeah, really.”

Joanna put her arms around him the best she could and pressed her face in his shoulder. Jim kissed the top of her head and held her tighter.

“Papa, too tight. I can’t breathe,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

Jim loosened his hold, but didn’t fully let go of her. He felt Leonard’s hand on his shoulder, rubbing softly. He looked over at his husband, grinning.

“You have to let go of her at some point,” Leonard said.

“I suppose,” Jim sighed as he let go of Joanna and she stepped back.

~~~

When the three of them got back to the house late that night, Jim carried a ninety-percent asleep seven-year-old to her bed and tucked her in after taking her shoes off. After kissing her forehead, he headed back to the car to help carry everything in.

“Mama sure knows how to stock us up on food,” Leonard laughed when he brought in the last bag packed with boxes of ham, turkey, stuffing, and potatoes.

“She’s always been good at that from my understanding,” Jim smiled.

“I’m gonna put all this food away and then we can head to bed. Sound good?”

“Yeah. You want any help?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Jim headed down the hall to the bedroom and got ready for bed. By the time he was getting situated in bed and was finding something to watch, Leonard was walking into the bedroom.

“You have a good Christmas?” Leonard asked after brushing his teeth, beginning to strip down to his boxers.

“An amazing Christmas. Jo calls me Papa now. Bones, I’m Papa.” Jim was grinning, but Leonard could hear the hint of pain in his tone.

“Get almost everything you wanted?”

“Yeah.”

Leonard went to the sock drawer and dug out a folder. “One last gift. Sorry, no bow.” He got into bed and set the folder on Jim’s lap.

Jim recognized the folder, though it was more like a binder, from all the meetings with lawyers. His hand shook as he opened it to see a copy of the parental rights release form they’d been trying to get Jocelyn to sign for months. But the signature section was no longer blank.

He stared at the paper for a long time before looking over at Leonard. “She signed it,” he whispered.

“Yes, I met with her and our lawyers a few days ago.”

“So the meeting on January fifth?”

“To finalize the details and sign whatever papers are necessary for you to officially adopt Joanna.”

Jim blinked back tears as he closed the folder and stuck it on his nightstand, then moved closer to Leonard and hugged his husband as tight as he dared. “I’m going to legally be her dad,” he sniffled pressing his face into Leonard’s neck.

“Yep.” Leonard wrapped his arms around Jim in return, lightly stroking his back.

After a few minutes of just sniffling, Jim let out a sob.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Leonard asked softly.

“I’m gonna be a dad. What if I screw up? I didn’t have a dad growing up. I just had Uncle Frank. I don’t want to mess up. God, Bones, what if I mess up?” Jim whimpered.

“Jim, you already are a dad. You’ve practically been Jo’s other dad for the past three years. And do you want to know a secret? I’ve screwed up in my parenting. You’re going to make mistakes. It happens. It’s a part of parenting. How you handle the aftermath of that mistake is just as important as trying not to make them in the first place. You’ll learn.”

“But I had a shitty childhood. I don’t have a childhood to model my own parenting off of.”

“Then you do the things that you know didn’t work. You know yelling isn’t a good way to get your point across, so you don’t do it when disciplining Jo.” Leonard let out a soft sigh and pulled back from Jim to look the blond in the eye. “You are already a parent and are doing great at it, so stay on that track. You ask questions when you don’t know what to do. We’re in this together. It doesn’t come easy, but you’re already doing it. Alright?”

Jim nodded.

Leonard quickly kissed him before moving around until they were both lying in bed and Jim’s head was resting on his chest. He fell asleep to the feeling of Jim’s steady breathing against his chest.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [tumblr](http://pinkamour1588.tumblr.com)


End file.
